Oriire Abduction: Security Agencies Must Answer Tough Questions
Growing up in Ijebu-Ode, my responsibility was to join other children in protecting respective family hens and their chicks from predators. We were guided by a practical proverb: first you have to drive away the eagle, then count the chicks. This involved having stones and catapults at the ready to step in when the hens were besieged by an eagle overhead. If we were alert and ready, the predator had no chance.
The Oriire abduction of children and teachers in Oyo State is on my mind. It was good that our security forces, as it should be in a normal country, got involved and after 56 days rescued the victims.” I join Nigerians in commending the stellar efforts of the security forces under the overall leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who worked behind the scenes, ostensibly, with the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde. Nigerians have so far been told that no ransom was paid and no quid pro quo demands by the kidnappers were agreed to in exchange for the victims’ unharmed release.
There is so much we should still push to know. Now it is time to count the chicks. There are some titbits of information in the media. There is a need for substantiation of claims that eight terrorists were captured alive as many were “unalived” using the pidgin rendition of killing. Interesting if true: that the security forces rounded up family members of the terrorists in different states in Northern Nigeria and delivered a clear message of killing those family members in retaliation for any further deaths among the victims beyond the dastardly slaughter of Michael Oyedokun and the killing of another teacher on the day of the kidnap.
Governor Seyi Makinde’s call for further investigation into the roots of this crisis would be a welcome development if it was not a significant departure from established diplomatic protocols. A subnational leader should, ideally, have a basic understanding of the international system, which would enable her or him to understand the specific, limited role of the UN. Seen through the prism of international relations and the legal framework that governs global interventions, such a request seems misguided.
UN Secretary-General: A Secretary, Not A General
Perhaps Governor Seyi Makinde was misled by the Yoruba translation of United Nations as “Ijoba Agb’aiye,” literally World Government, and in which case, the UN Secretary-General as the President of the World. This is the farthest thing from the truth. The UN is not a government. It has no police service and no military force.
Although the Secretary-General is one of the main organs of the UN system, as the British Permanent Representative to Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari and I campaigned for General Olusegun Obasanjo to be the UN Secretary-General in 1991, the office is more for a Secretary and not a General. The power at the UN is more in the Security Council (if the veto system allows decisions) while the General Assembly has the power of the purse. The Secretary-General is in large part a secretary working for a union of member states.
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His profile as the media representation of the will of the union or if you like association of member states does not make him the boss. Of course, in theory he has power over the staff he appoints when the strong countries are not strongly interested in countering him. He also has his “good offices role” with which he makes direct and indirect intervention pleas for peace, development and respect for human rights and humanitarianism around the world. He has a lot of media visibility for these efforts.
The Barrier of Sovereignty
The UN Secretariat and the associated agencies have no power to engage with sub nationals unless there is an express Security Council resolution requesting involvement and/or the request for assistance by the national government concerned. This is what those agitating for the dismemberment of Nigeria never understood, as they deceived Nigerians by claiming they had written to the UN requesting one sanction or the other for Nigeria. Of course, some requests could be included in the many reports the UN issues annually, but without an express resolution that could bite, it is only at best, for academic masturbation and that is if any of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council did not cast a negative vote.
Of course, if needed, the UN Secretariat and its Agencies and other international entities could be asked for all sorts of support, including sharing of material and knowledge, but not an investigation over kidnapping by terrorists. It was a major and very important development for the South-West of Nigeria, more so with the beheading of a teacher and the killing of another and keeping 42 children and seven teachers in the forest for 56 days.
But even more serious situations, such as a civil war, would need to be approached with care so as not to have the UN violate the sovereignty of a member state, no matter how weak or comatose a situation such a state may be in. For the Security Council to investigate, it would have to pass a resolution under Chapter 7. The general responsibility to protect cannot be raised in a situation of this kind and not through an innocuous subnational statement of a Governor.
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If the situation were more serious than what was faced in Oyo, the Human Rights Council could have given Governor Makinde succour and PBAT has no objection to external intervention. If PBAT has an objection, the investigation team would not get visas, though the report could be prepared from outside.
But for such a report to be of any consequence, it would require a Security Council intervention to exercise its power of imposing sanctions, provided the Nigerian government lacked any veto-wielding friend that would trade a veto for an interest that Nigeria could foster.
It’s time to count the chicks now. Governor Makinde could have taken a more constructive lead by addressing his concerns/questions directly within the national framework with the 49 Nigerians safely outside the den of the terrorists. Organising internal pressures through the Governors Forum, credible Civil Society Organisations and investigative journalism could have helped him seek clarity on the processes that led to the victims’ abduction and freedom. In my opinion, going over Nigeria for an external appeal was a missed chance for a more statecraft-oriented approach. This development does not outstrip Nigerias ability to cope. Hence, it is still not too late to seek accountability as well as draw lessons for use elsewhere especially in Northern Nigeria.
*Babafemi A. Badejo is a former Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Somalia, a former Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Chrisland University, Abeokuta, and the author of several books including a best seller on Politics In Kenya as well as Why Peace Has Been Elusive In Somalia. Presently a Legal Practitioner and Chairman of the national NBA Anti-Corruption Committee and a Consultant at Yintab Strategy Consults. He received the 2025 Nelson Mandela Distinguished Africanist Award of the Africa Annual Conference at the University of Texas at Austin. Djibouti decorated him in November 2025 with the 27 Juin 1977, Order.
